


pumpkin

by catbeans



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: M/M, lukes got those lightning scars after rotj
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 08:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16719612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catbeans/pseuds/catbeans
Summary: Somewhere around the sixth time Han pointed out how aggressively orange the flight suit was, Luke wasn't actually wearing it.“Hey, pumpkin,” he said, sitting down next to Luke with a tray and a bottle of water.Luke looked up.Han didn't yet, but his hand went stiff for a second as he brought the bottle up to his mouth.“Pumpkin.”“It’s pretty damn orange.”Han put the bottle down and glanced over when Luke didn't say anything else, quickly looking back down to his tray.Luke kept quiet and started on his own.He hadn't missed the way it had just slipped out, and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one, with a pilot and a mechanic across the table looking up at each other with eyebrows raised.“I’ve been telling you,” one of them whispered.“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get you your credits.”





	pumpkin

**Author's Note:**

> i could not stop thinking about this so here it is

“You look like a pumpkin in that.”

“I’m not the one who picked the colors,” Luke said, his heart still racing, his hands a little unsteady from the adrenaline still rushing through him. He hadn't thought about following Han, too much still going on to think about much at all before he realized, “I don’t have any other clothes.”

“I’ve probably got something.” Han led him up the loading ramp to the Falcon. Luke stood off to the side while Han looked through a few drawers and storage boxes, tossing a pair of pants and a few shirts onto the bed. “One of those should probably fit.”

Han kept looking while Luke went to change; the pants only needed a belt and the hems cuffed at the bottom, the third shirt he tried snug enough that it didn't look like he was borrowing from someone who had most of a head over him. He folded the flight suit over his arm, back to Han’s bunk to see him holding up a yellow and a dark blue jacket.

“Stand up straight a sec.”

Han held them both up against Luke's chest a couple times before giving him the yellow one and putting the blue back in its box.

“Probably got some boots, too, hold on.”

Luke put on the jacket while Han left the room. The shoulders and under his arms was comfortably roomy, the sleeves hanging just past his wrists, and he was smoothing the wrinkles out from tucking in the shirt when Han came back in with a pair of boots.

“Might have to stuff the toes with something.”

 

Han still didn't let him live down the color.

“Hey, pumpkin,” he said, holding a hand out to help Luke down from the small shuttle. “Anything?”

“Nothing on the scanners,” Luke said; Han’s hand stayed at his waist a couple seconds longer than it needed to. “It gets  _ cold _ up there.”

“Wish it’d get cold down here,” Han said. “Can’t wait to get out of this swamp.”

 

Han hadn't forgotten how many times he had wished for it to be colder, and he clearly regretted it.

Luke had to bundle up under his flight suit, padded with a sweater and a couple thermals, but no one seemed to be as bundled up as Han, his coat puffed up with more layers underneath and his hood pulled up over his head even inside most of the time.

Luke's rounds through the upper beacons had taken long enough that he didn't bother to change before going for some food, and even then, Han’s hood was still up, his hair peeking out from the fur lining, tensed up against the chill.

“Saved you some,” he said, pushing a second tray over when Luke sat down next to him. He took a couple bites before looking over with a snort, poking Luke’s side. “You  _ really _ look like a pumpkin now.”

Luke squirmed away and swatted his shoulder, but he might as well not have done anything with all the sweaters and the extra fleece under Han’s coat. “Like you can talk.”

Han pushed a steaming cup over next to Luke's tray. “You’re welcome.”

“Thanks.” Luke took a sip to wash down the reheated mush. “Where did you find hot chocolate around here?”

“Had some mix left on the ship.”

 

Somewhere around the sixth time Han pointed out how aggressively orange the flight suit was, Luke wasn't actually wearing it.

“Hey, pumpkin,” he said, sitting down next to Luke with a tray and a bottle of water.

Luke looked up.

Han didn't yet, but his hand went stiff for a second as he brought the bottle up to his mouth.

“Pumpkin.”

“It’s pretty damn orange.”

Han put the bottle down and glanced over when Luke didn't say anything else, quickly looking back down to his tray.

Luke kept quiet and started on his own.

He hadn't missed the way it had just slipped out, and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one, with a pilot and a mechanic across the table looking up at each other with eyebrows raised.

“I told you,” one of them whispered.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get you your credits.”

 

The next two times, Luke had the flight suit on, but Han stopped leaving it to just then after that.

The jig was already up.

“Get in here, pumpkin,” Han mumbled, holding up the blankets on his bunk for Luke to get in with him after he took off his boots, changing into one of Han’s sweatshirts and flannel pants that dragged on the floor until he rolled them up. “What took so long?”

“One of the beacons needed repairs.”

Han pulled the blankets back up over their heads, reaching for Luke's hands with a small hiss.

“Swapped your fingers for icicles?”

“I had to take the top gloves off to get it done, I couldn't get a good grip otherwise.”

Han rubbed Luke's hands between his own before bringing them up to kiss Luke's knuckles, still a little numb, but he could still feel the warmth from Han’s mouth.

“Should've just waited for a crew.”

“It had already been down for a while,” Luke said. “I was already there.”

“You’re gonna get yourself frozen solid like that.”

 

The med bay was kept warmer than the rest of the base, enough that the thin clothes he had been given and the blanket kept him warm enough, but it was warmer after Han snuck in with him, holding Luke tight to his chest with his hand rubbing along Luke's spine.

“How are you doing?”

“Better,” Luke said, pressing his face to the curve of Han’s neck; Han shivered, but he didn't say anything, just holding Luke a little tighter. “Thank you.”

“Already told you, you don’t have to keep saying that.”

“I know.” Luke wound his arms around Han as tight as Han had his arms around him, tilting his head up to kiss below his chin. “Still. You could have died.”

_ “You _ could have died.”

“But I didn't,” Luke said, pulling back just enough to lean up the rest of the way to kiss him,  _ “thanks _ to you.”

Han huffed a laugh, letting go with one arm to push Luke's hair back from his eyes, his thumb hovering over the gash on his cheek; the corner of his mouth twitched, the laugh gone from his face.

“Alright, you big pumpkin,” Han said, moving his arm back down around Luke's waist. “Almost died, you need some sleep.” Before Luke could remind him about the bacta tank, “Medically induced coma in that tub doesn't count.”

 

It felt like they were out of sync for a long time, like Han was still behind a whole year that he never really could as the time kept passing by him without any chance to catch up with the rest of them.

It wasn’t just that; Luke could see it in the way Han looked at him, in the split second before he looked away again once he saw Luke's eyes meeting his. He looked at Luke like Luke was a face he couldn't quite place, like someone he was sure he knew but couldn't figure out where from, searching and uncertain.

He could feel it, too.

He wasn’t trying to listen, but Han could be so  _ loud. _

There was a hope radiating off of him, a wanting, spun between that uncertainty and a wall he put up around that year and the  _ lost _ feeling of coming out of it after so much had changed, after Luke had changed.

It was a long time, but that wall started chipping, letting Luke in a little more with each crack, even if he never said.

He didn't talk about the carbonite, barely said a word about coming out to a different Luke, and Luke didn't push him to.

The wall would come down eventually; Luke decided it was best to let it come down on its own rather than risk it shooting back up if he pushed too hard.

He was getting there, closer with each kiss or small touch, the backs of his knuckles brushing up against Han’s thigh under the table at a briefing, hands lingering as they passed food down the tables in the dining hall, the looks a little less questioning and a little more familiar.

It was slow, bumpy and scattered with setbacks, but Luke felt that wall crumble eventually, leaving little but rubble and the echo of that barrier that had been up for so long.

The hope he could feel radiating from Han’s skin was replaced with more of a certainty, a comfort, pulling him to Luke like a light through the dark gaps he was still filling in of that year that everyone else had already had. He could feel it in Han’s lips, in his fingers rubbing over the scars stretching over his chest and his back as he helped Luke with the burn cream he had gotten from the med bay.

He could feel it when Han only gave it enough time to set in, not quite enough time to dry to the point where it wouldn’t smear on his arm as he got back into his bunk next to Luke, arm over Luke's waist.

“Got all of it?”

Luke nodded.

“C’mere, pumpkin.”

Luke was too thrown off for a second to match Han kissing him; he hadn't said that one in so long, and Luke had started to think it was left behind with the version of Luke that  _ Han _ had left behind with the slow acceptance that even though it was still Luke, Luke wasn’t quite the same.

He had missed it.

He hadn't realized just how much until he got it back.

He could feel the hesitation on Han’s lips from the kiss not being reciprocated, that uncertainty creeping back again, but it left as soon as Luke moved his hand up to Han’s hair and kissed him back.

**Author's Note:**

> @hansolosbi on tumblr!


End file.
